Greek Religion Yr. 12
Contents
The nature of the Olympian Gods Pg
Personal experience of the divine Pg
Religion and society Pg
,Nature of the Olympian Gods
Traditional understanding
What was Greek religion?
Mythology about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an integral part of
everyday life. They explained everything about the world around people.
The 12 main Olympians:
- Zeus / Jupiter (king, god of weather, law and fate)
- Hera / Juno (queen, goddess of women and marriage)
- Aphrodite / Venus (beauty and love)
- Apollo / Apollo (prophecy, music, poetry and knowledge)
- Ares / Mars (war)
- Artemis / Diana (hunting, animals, childbirth)
- Athena / Minerva (wisdom and defense)
- Demeter / Ceres (agriculture and grain)
- Dionysus / Bacchus (wine and pleasure)
- Hephaestus / Vulcan (fire, metalworking)
- Hermes / Mecury (travel, hospitality, trade, messenger)
- Poseidon / Neptune (sea)
Hades was not included because he lived in the underworld. Hestia and Eros (Cupid) are also
sometimes included but they are not part of the main group.
Family tree:
Ouranos also had Aphrodite (not w/ Gaia)
The nature of Greek religion:
Polytheistic
No sacred text
No professional priesthood Very different to
No separation of church and state modern religions
Believer did not have a personal relationship w the gods (*)
Greek gods weren’t moral & didn’t lay down moral foundations
Only if were extreme could go to heaven or hell otherwise middle
(*) In the Age of Heroes (Hesiod) people like Achilles may have had. Hesiod describes the
ages of man – gold downwards, reflecting the lives of men.
,Price writes that “the family structure was important up to a point” saying it is helpful to
understand that a nephew or niece might yield to an uncle, but the extent that modern family
trees try to enforce is unnecessary, the Greeks “were not bothered” about intricate details.
Chthonic relating to beneath the underworld (the Titans lived underground)
Anthropomorphic attributing human characteristics or qualities to gods etc
Civilization in the West (Kishlansky, O’Brien and Geary):
- Greek temples were the houses of the gods, not centers of ritual
- Gods were petitioned, placated and pampered, they were not privileged or protected
- Like literacy and government, the Gods belonged to all
There was, however, clear acknowledgements of their power, gods are worshipped as much
greater than humans, human instincts amplified by divine powers.
There is, for example, only 1 on-stage death in all surviving Greek tragedy (that of
Sophocles’ Ajax). This is thought to be because performances were made in honour of the
god Dionysus, and he should not be tarnished with death.
Anthropomorphism and Reciprocal Relations
Do ut des (giving in order to receive)
Epiphany god physically appearing (belief this could happen – e.g., Parthenon Frieze?)
Epiphanies:
Herodotus, Pheidippides sent from Athens to Sparta, said he met Pan otw
Histories Pan had asked him why the Athenians paid him no attention
The Athenians therefore built a shrine & held an annual ceremony
Epidaurian Euhippos = spear head in jaw, 6 years – whilst sleeping, god drew
iamata spearhead from him & gave it to him in his hands.
Homeric Hymn to Made herself look like an unmarried girl in appearance and stature
Aphrodite I shall construct you an altar / shall offer you beautiful holy sacrifice
as he is scared of her
Theriopomorphism having physical characteristics of an animal (e.g. Pan,
a satyr, or Achelous a river god who was part bull)
There is the potential that reciprocal relationship played a less important role in the
relationship between mortals & the gods than is previously recognized, Parker
suggests Plato saw learning to worship the gods as function of growing up / socialisation.
“I have exchanged my divine form for a mortal one” – Euripides ‘Bacchae’ (Dionysus)
suggests that anthropomorphic form is not the usual one, and they can choose which shape.
Also, the myth of Semele and Zeus (wherein Semele asks to see Zeus in his true form and is
thus killed) is another example, showing their ‘normal’ is too powerful for mortals to see.
, Mythological Sources
1. Homer (8th century BC) – epics Odyssey and Illiad
2. Hesiod (700 BC) – Theogony was a cosmogony of all the Greek mythology
3. Homeric hymns (7th century BC) – religious hymns to praise the major deities
“Homer and Hesiod are the poets who composed our theogonies and described the gods to
us, giving them appropriate titles, offices and powers” – Herodotus’ Histories
Homer was performed at sanctuaries where Greeks congregated (e.g. Olympia, Delphi)
Panhellenic (“pan” = all) (“hellenic” = Greek)
Each polis had separate cultures, politics, calendars, festivals and local deities. The only thing
which joined the 1500 states was the languge and set of gods shared from Homer and Hesiod
Hesiod’s Theogony also gives an insight into the poets background. His father was a poor
peasant-farmer, and he disliked his brother as the brother was lazy and didn’t work.
Quotes:
Homer B.13: a man as wise as the gods are wise
Odyssey B.13: even a god would have to be a consummate trickster to
surpass you in subterfuge (said by Athena, to Odysseus)
Iliad B.24: Z – thoughts are deathless / wide-seeing & weighs Achilles
B.11: Z – sends down bloody shower as an omen
Hesiod Eye of Zeus sees and considers all things and now looks on these
things [injustice] if he so wishes, and they do not escape his notice
Works Whole community together suffers in consequence of a bad man-
& Days wide-seeing Zeus, marks out retribution
Never pour gleaming wine to Zeus in the morning / do not urinate
standing turned towards the sun / if a man crosses a river without
cleansing his wickedness and his hands, the gods look askance at
him and give him woe later [which days are appropriate for what]
Theo- Family of blessed ones who are forever
gony Aphrodite’s allotted province includes smiles / deception
Hesiod’s works show that their works guided the worship of the gods, similar to the
sacrificial process lined out in Book 3 of Homer’s Odyssey.
Homeric Hymn to Athena shows the importance of Homer and Hesiod in establishing the
nature of the Olympian gods:
- Dread, as Ares - Sack of cities and the shouting and the battle
Similarities to traits that Homer had laid out, little changed in the perception laid out by him.
